2,127 research outputs found
Revisiting the 'Missing Middle' in English Sub-National Governance
Get PDFIn the light of the new Coalition Government’s proposed ‘rescaling’ of sub-national governance away from the regional level, it is an opportune time to re-consider the strength and weaknesses of the city or sub-regional approach to economic development and to search, once more, for the ‘missing middle’ in English Governance. In this context, the article initially assesses the case for city or sub regions as tiers of economic governance, before examining the lessons to be learnt from the experiences of the existing city regions in the North East of England. It argues that while contemporary plans to develop Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) can be usefully considered within the context of the emerging city regional developments under the previous Labour Governments, a number of important challenges remain, particularly in relation to ensuring accountable structures of governance, a range of appropriate functions, adequate funding, and comprehensive coverage across a variety of sub-regional contexts. While the proposals of the new Government create the necessary ‘space’ to develop sub-regional bodies and offer genuine opportunities for both city and county LEPs, the scale of the sub-regional challenge should not be underestimated, particularly given the context of economic recession and major reductions in the public sector
The potential impact of reforms to the essential parameters of the council tax
Get PDFCouncil Tax was introduced in Britain in 1993 and represents a unique international property tax. There is a growing belief that it is time to reform the number and structure of council tax bands but such views have a minimal empirical base. This paper sets out to assess the impact on personal and local government finances, and extends the analysis to the role of the tax multipliers linked to each band. The research is based on the experience of a representative sample of local authorities in Scotland. A statistical revaluation for 2000 is estimated for the existing eight band system, and from this base a ten band system is calculated. Financial implications are then simulated for each local authority taking account of central resource equalisation mechanisms. The results indicate that increases in bands will have little impact on the burden of the council tax compared with regular revaluations. Changing the tax multiplier range has the greatest impact on local authority finances and council tax payments
New housing association development and its potential to reduce concentrations of deprivation: An English case study
Get PDFSocial housing across Western Europe has become significantly more residualised as
governments concentrate on helping vulnerable households. Many countries are trying to
reduce the concentrations of deprivation by building for a wider range of households and
tenures. In England this policy has two main strands: (i) including other tenures when
regenerating areas originally built as mono-tenure social housing estates and (ii) introducing
social rented and low cost homeownership into new private market developments through
planning obligations. By examining where new social housing and low cost home ownership
homes have been built and who moves into them, this paper examines whether these
policies achieve social mix and reduce spatial concentrations of deprivation. The evidence
suggests that new housing association development has enabled some vulnerable
households to live in areas which are not deprived, while some better off households have
moved into more deprived areas. But these trends have not been sufficient to stem
increases in deprivation in the most deprived areas
Issue 392: April 21-May 5, 2022
Get PDFDouble Decker Festival 2022https://egrove.olemiss.edu/tlv/1007/thumbnail.jp
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